17 Israelis on Forbes World’s Billionaires List

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The Forbes Magazine building at 60-62 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. Forbes has released its annual World's Billionaires list, which includes 17 Israelis. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Forbes Magazine on Monday published its annual list of the World’s Billionaires. The list includes 17 Israelis, the richest of whom is Idan Ofer, with an estimated fortune of $6.5 billion.

Ofer’s controls Israel Corporation Ltd., whose holdings include Israel Chemicals, a leading global fertilizers and specialty chemicals company. Idan Ofer is in the 182nd spot on the Forbes list. The Israeli in next place after him is Eyal Ofer, whose assets are estimated at $6 billion. Eyal Ofer is ranked as the 198th richest man in the world. His money comes from real-estate projects among other things.

The third richest Israeli is Stef Wertheimer and family, in 286th place. Wertheimer founded ISCAR, a cutting tool company, selling control of it to Warren Buffett. His assets are estimated at $4.4 billion. The next richest Israeli, in 308th place, is businesswoman Shari Arison, who is often described as the richest woman in the Middle East. Her assets are estimated at $4.2 billion.

Israeli-raised Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan is in the same spot as Arison is also estimated by Forbes to be worth $4.2 billion. Next in wealth among Israelis is diamond mogul Beny Steinmetz, at $4.1 billion. He is in 316th place in the worldwide rankings. Yitzhak Tshuva, with assets of $2.2 billion is in eighth place, according to Forbes. The last Israeli on the list, ranked 1,342 on Forbes list of billionaires, is one of the founders of Check Point, Marius Nacht. His net worth is “only” $1 billion.

On the worldwide list, the wealthiest person this year for the third straight year is Carlos Slim. His assets are estimated to be about $73 billion. The Mexican titan owns large telecommunications concerns in South America as well as large software and finance companies.